Ian McKellen, Mel Giedroyc and John Bishop announced this morning that they would be embarking on a UK and Ireland tour of well-loved pantomime Mother Goose!
With Ian McKellen as Mother Goose, John Bishop as her husband Vic and Mel Giedroyc as the Goose, the show is sure to be side-splittingly funny. The panto will open at Theatre Royal Brighton from 3 – 11 December, before settling in for a Christmas season at the West End’s Duke Of York’s Theatre from 15 December – 29 January.
But the fun doesn’t stop there! The production will tour the UK and Ireland all the way up ’til Easter, stopping at Chichester Festival Theatre (7 – 11 February), Sheffield Lyceum (14 – 18 February), Wolverhampton Grand (22 – 26 February), Liverpool Empire (28 February – 4 March), Oxford New Theatre (7 – 11 March) Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin (22 – 26 March) and Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff (28 March – 1 April), and there are further venues to be announced!
The panto is written by Jonathan Harvey (Coronation Street, Gimme Gimme Gimme) and directed by the award-winning Cal McCrystal.
Set and Costume design is by Liz Ascroft, Choreography by Lizzi Gee, Lighting design by Prema Mehta, Sound design by Ben Harrison and Puppet Design and Creation by Chris Barlow. Casting is by Anne Vosser and the Production Manager is Ben Arkell.
The show will also star Oscar Conlon-Morrey as Jack, Simbi Akande as Jill, Sharon Ballard as Evil Fairy Malignia and Karen Mavundukure as Good Fairy Encanta. The cast also includes Adam Brown, Gabriel Fleary, Richard Leeming and Genevieve Nicole. Further casting to be announced soon.
Mother Goose (McKellen) and her husband Vic (Bishop) run an Animal Sanctuary for waifs and strays and live a wholesome life inside an abandoned Debenhams. But when a goose (Giedroyc) flies in, will fame and fortune get the better of them?! Will Ma’s feathers be seriously ruffled? Will Pa tell everyone to get stuffed?! And is their fair life about to turn fowl? Get ready for fairies with hefty vocal chords, puppets with tap dance qualifications and impeccably constructed mayhem that will quack up the whole family. This hilarious family-friendly mother of all pantos is the ultimate theatrical feast full of fun, farce and more than a couple of surprises that will make you honk out loud.